This HBO documentary spotlights the women activists who banded together to form Jane, a clandestine group providing safe abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade.
"I was one of seven women arrested in Chicago and charged with abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion. We were helping mostly poor women obtain illegal abortions."
involved. emma, tell me about what drew you to wanting to tell the story of the janes. little known it was not a widely known part of american legal history and medical history. yeah. i have a family connection to the story. so, i always sort of knew about it. but, you know, it s just we so often don t hear about the female heroes of history. those stories don t get told. so, it was just such a compelling opportunity for us to give these women a platform, especially at this time, you know? we re filmmakers. this is what we have to contribute to the fight. you know, we believe in this medium to create empathy around the issue, to put people in other people s shoes. and we believe in these women. these are deeply moral women that wanted to save lives and could testify to what this
nation. she was a member of the jane collective, chicago women who created an underground network for thousands of women providing them access to safe abortions prior to the roe v. wade ruling. now hbo is timely documentary entitled the janes, sharing a bit of their story. we were very aware of the fact that women were suffering in a variety of ways because of abortion being against the law. women did awful things out of fear and desperation. we knew that some would die. many people around them, including children they already had, would suffer. so, we thought, we can be of use. you need an abortion? we ll help you. call this number and ask for jane. the hbo documentary film the
janes debuts june 8th on hbo and hbo max. and joining us now is the janes director and producer, and also a member of the jane collective, laura kaplan. welcome all. laura, talk to me about how you got involved with the janes. well, i had in the fall of 1971, moved back to chicago from new york. and my dear friend, alice, needed an abortion. and she saw an ad in an underground paperer in chicago. pregnant, don t want to be? call jane, with the phone number. and so she did. and after her abortion, she came to my apartment, and she was just ecstatic about the experience, that it was just a wonderful experience. and that piqued my interest.